Nintendo Power was Nintendo's official magazine for the North American region, providing previews, hints and tips, and reviews of new and upcoming games for Nintendo platforms and published monthly. It is the successor of Nintendo Fun Club News.

At the beginning of the magazine's run, the mascot was a character named Nester, who would appear in a comic segment alongside a caricature of Howard Philips to give tips, and later appeared on his own after Philips left the company. Even later, Mario replaced Nester entirely as the magazine's mascot. Finally, Senior Writer Alan Averill was made the mascot, commonly represented by a Slime plush.

Originally published in-house by Nintendo of America, publishing duties were later contracted to Future US in 2007. The magazine debuted with its first issue in July 1988, and ended publication in December 2012.

Contents

History

Between 1987 and 1988, Nintendo published a magazine for the Nintendo Fun Club, titled Nintendo Fun Club News. That magazine was cancelled after its seventh issue so that the company could focus on Nintendo Power, the first issue of which was released in July.

In 1998, Nintendo began to allow outside advertising in Nintendo Power, formerly only allocated to games and products for Nintendo hardware.

In 2005, to appeal to a new audience, Nintendo Power was revamped. This included a new logo, more fan interaction, and staff reviews. This also led to a greater focus on news and previews rather than strategies.

In September 2007, it was announced that Future US would be publishing Nintendo Power.

In August 2012, Nintendo announced that it had chosen not to renew its license with Future US, and that Nintendo Power would be discontinued after its December 2012 issue.

Volumes

285 issues of Nintendo Power were published in its 24 year run. The first issue was dated July/August 1988, while the final issue was released in December 2012. Volumes were originally released on a bi-monthly basis, until the magazine was converted to a monthly format.

Between August 1998 and January 1999, volumes 111-116 of Nintendo Power included a mini-magazine titled Pokémon Power, which featured strategy guides for Pokémon Red and BlueVersions as well as "ani-manga" adaptations of episodes of the television series.

During the 1990's Nintendo Power would send a Nintendo Power Strategy Guide to subscribers every other month, or alongside the new issue. These were discontinued due to a lack of important releases.

Later, Nintendo would begin releasing the Official Nintendo Player's Guide. Unlike the previous guides, these were not included with subscriptions, and instead had to be purchased separately. Initially these guides were similar to The Official Nintendo Player's Guide and covered multiple games for one console, though the format was later converted so that each guidebook would cover one specific game, and are only made for Nintendo-published games.

After Nintendo Power was given to Future, the guidebooks were discontinued.